A three-time Newbery Honor winner tells—in a memoir that is even more immediate and compelling than his novels—about his intimate relationship with Minnesota's north woods and the dog team he trained for Alaska's Iditarod.
Beginning with a violent natural incident (a doe killed by wolves) that spurred his own conversion from hunter and trapper to observing habitant of the forest, Paulsen draws a vivid picture of his wilderness life—where bears routinely help themselves to his dog's food and where his fiercely protective bantam adopts a nestful of quail chicks and then terrorizes the household for an entire summer. The incidents he recounts are marvelous. Built of concrete detail, often with a subtext of irony or mystery, they unite in a modest but telling self-portrait of a man who has learned by opening himself to nature—not to idyllic, sentimental nature, but to the harsh, bloody, life-giving real thing. Like nature, the dogs are uncontrollable: independent, wildly individual, yet loyal and dedicated to their task. It takes extraordinary flexibility, courage, and generosity to accept their difficult strengths and make them a team: Paulsen sees humor in their mischief and has learned (almost at the cost of his life) that rigid discipline is irrelevant, even dangerous. This wonderful book concludes with a mesmerizing, day-by-day account of Paulsen's first Iditarod—a thrilling, dangerous journey he was so reluctant to end that he almost turned back within sight of his goal. lt's almost as hard to come to the end of his journal.
This may be Paulsen's best book yet: it should delight and enthrall almost any reader.
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1990
ISBN: 0-02-770221-9
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Bradbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1990
A joyful teen drama told with soul and style.
In this coming-of-age story, 16-year-old David Chang finds that striking a balance between his dreams and his heritage is harder than striking the right chord on a guitar.
Lee (The Fragrant Garden, 2005) writes her first teen novel from the perspective of a Montreal boy who wants nothing more than to become a rock ’n’ roll legend like John Lennon or Carlos Santana. He imagines them cheering on his guitar practices from their posters on his bedroom wall. But his real-life circumstances aren’t so encouraging. His dad, a second-generation Chinese immigrant who now works at a grocery store after losing a high-paying job, has plunged the family into debt by gambling. David’s relationship with his band, Pumping Iron, is strained after he makes a mistake that takes them out of a major competition. To make matters worse, his parents don’t want him to be a musician; expecting him to become a “professional”—i.e., a lawyer or doctor—they stop paying for his guitar lessons to save money. David resents his dad for losing the family’s money and for getting in the way of his dream. But as he struggles to keep playing in spite of all the obstacles, he finds that he and his father have more in common than he thought. Throughout the story, a lively narration brings Montreal and its Chinese subculture to life through the young protagonist’s eyes. The Chang family is made up of well-rounded, believable characters who really love each other but often let mistakes and lack of communication disrupt their relationships. David’s problems with friends, girls, and his parents’ expectations will also ring true for many teen readers. There are a few times when the story does stretch the bounds of belief: David’s grandmother, for example, always speaks Chinese, so Lee’s decision to translate her dialogue into broken English makes little sense, and some of the secrets the characters keep from each other seem to exist only to create conflict. Yet the book’s main themes of family and love drown out all the off notes.
A joyful teen drama told with soul and style.Pub Date: Aug. 31, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4823-5824-7
Page Count: 176
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A vibrant time-travel tale that offers inventive storytelling along with sports, romance, and secrets.
A YA adventure finds a high school football star stuck in the past thanks to a mysterious musical instrument.
North High School students Arky and Iris are twins from the accomplished Jongler-Jinks family. Their father, Howard Jinks, is a university history professor, and their mother, Dr. Octavia Jongler, is an astrophysicist. Jongler, however, has been missing without a trace for a year. In a state of continuous coping, Howard indulges his passion for the Civil War and attends a weekend re-enactment. It also happens to be the Friday night of an important semifinal football game between the North High Cyclones and the Lakeside Spartans. When the Cyclones win, Arky throws a party for his best friends, Danny Bender, a defensive back, and Matt Grinnell, the star quarterback. The party ends early when a scandal involving a private video of Kelly, Matt’s girlfriend, erupts. Matt tries to walk home but returns to knock on Iris’ door. He begs her to play the oboe, which the jock finds beautiful. Instead, she plays her cor anglais, a family heirloom that comes to possess her. Mist pours from the instrument’s bell, engulfs Matt, and causes him to vanish. Meehl (Suck It Up and Die, 2013, etc.) has crafted a sparkling tale from both unique and time-tested elements. His layered characterization unfolds wonderfully, as the narrative focus slides from the bickering twins to Matt, the talented footballer who’s begun to think he plays just to satisfy his father’s obsession with the game. The plot kicks in as the author sends Matt back in time—via the enchanted cor anglais—to 1907, when football had a different set of rules, equipment, and cultural value. Meehl’s love of history and sport combine to tell not only Matt’s story, but also Olympian Jim Thorpe’s. As a young man, Thorpe played football for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School of Pennsylvania. A bittersweet ending sets up the second volume in a trilogy.
A vibrant time-travel tale that offers inventive storytelling along with sports, romance, and secrets.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63505-186-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Mill City Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
